Chapter 2 - suite 1708
Khloe did not go to Suite 1708 immediately.
For almost twenty minutes, she stayed beside Marcus while the ballroom lights were restored. She answered questions from donors and pretended Isabella’s warning had meant nothing.
But the document she had signed that morning remained inside her handbag.
It was an amendment to the Vale family trust.
The amendment did not transfer money. It added safeguards preventing anyone from making decisions about her unborn child’s inheritance without the approval of both parents.
The request had come from an anonymous legal office.
Khloe had believed Marcus arranged it.
Now she was no longer certain.
“Tell me what Isabella meant,” Marcus said quietly.
“I received a trust amendment.”
“From whom?”
“I thought it came from your attorney.”
“My attorney sends everything through me.”
Khloe looked toward the ballroom exit.
“Then someone wanted my signature.”
Marcus held out his hand. “Show me.”
She reached into her handbag.
The document was gone.
Khloe searched again, checking every compartment.
“It was here.”
“Did anyone touch your bag?”
“It stayed with me.”
Marcus looked toward Isabella, who was speaking with two donors across the ballroom.
“We are leaving.”
“Marcus, wait.”
“No. Whatever game she is playing ends tonight.”
His phone rang before he could take another step.
The caller was a hospital physician from the maternity wing. A patient from Khloe’s charity program had gone into emergency labor, and the family had requested her presence.
“I’ll come with you,” Marcus said.
“You need to stay for the announcement.”
“The announcement can wait.”
“The hospital needs the funding. Go onstage, speak for five minutes, then meet me upstairs.”
He hesitated.
Khloe touched his cheek.
“I will be surrounded by doctors.”
Marcus finally nodded, but called his security director and ordered him to place two guards outside the maternity wing.
Khloe left the ballroom with a nurse.
At the elevator, the nurse received an urgent call and apologized before hurrying toward another corridor.
Khloe stepped inside alone.
When the doors opened on the seventeenth floor, the hallway appeared empty.
Suite 1708 was not part of the maternity wing.
It was a private recovery suite reserved for board members and major donors.
Khloe should have returned to the elevator.
Instead, she heard Isabella’s voice from behind the partially open door.
“You promised she would sign without asking questions.”
Khloe stopped.
A man answered, but his voice was too low to recognize.
Isabella spoke again.
“If Marcus sees the original document, he will know the trust has already been altered.”
Khloe reached for her phone.
Before she could begin recording, the corridor lights went dark.
A hand closed around her wrist.
Her phone struck the carpet.
Khloe pulled away, protecting her stomach.
The emergency lights activated, bathing the corridor in dim red light.
Isabella stood in front of her.
The man was gone.
“What trust did you alter?” Khloe demanded.
Isabella’s eyes moved toward the fallen phone.
“You should have stayed downstairs.”
“Who was with you?”
“No one.”
“I heard him.”
Isabella took a step forward.
“Marcus always believed you were innocent. Tonight, he is going to see what you really are.”
The door to Suite 1708 clicked shut behind them.
Khloe tried the handle.
Locked.
Isabella raised her voice.
“Stop threatening me.”
Khloe stared at her.
“I didn’t threaten you.”
“I said stay away from me.”
Isabella backed toward the security camera, arranging herself beneath its view.
Then she struck her own shoulder against the wall.
Khloe understood too late.
May you like
Isabella was creating a story.
And someone had already prepared the room to support it.
